Theatrical appliance.



No. 653,997. Patented July l7,'l9 00 C. L. HAGEPL THEATBIGAL APPLIANCE (Application filed Feb 23, 1900,; (No Model.) 7 2 Sheats -Sheet l.

W/TNESSES m: ycnms PETERS co. PNOTD-LITHO. WASHINGTON, n, c.

No. 653,997. Patented July l7, I900.

C. L. HAGEN.

THEATRICAL APPLIANCE. (Application filed Feb. '23,.19'00.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

m/ VENTOH UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE.

CLAUDE L. IIAGEN, OF NEIV YORK, N. Y.

TH EATRlCAL APPLIANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part ofLetters Patent No. 653,997, dated July 17, 1900. g i i r11 re 2s, 19cc. tl erial No-q 6,274. (No model.)

To all whom/ it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLAUDE L. HAGEN, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Manhattan, in the county and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Stage Appliances, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention is a stage appliance to assist in the creation of the illusion on a stage of an object passing over a surfacefor example, the ground, water, or ice. It is particularly adapted for use in connection with the reproduction of horse, chariot, and like races. In attaining this end I employ a num ber of narrow endless belts or aprons arranged on the floor of the stage and between which chariots orother objects supposed to be moving are placed. The belts are painted to represent the ground or surface over which the chariots run or other objects pass, so that when the belts are driven it appears to the audience as though the chariots or objects were actually passing rapidly over the ground or surface.

This specification is the disclosure of one form of the invention, while the claims define the actual scope thereof.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters ofreference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the invention, showing it fitted to a stage. Fig. 2 is a section of the belts on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 to illustrate the series arrangement thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the housings in which the pulleys which carry the belts or aprons are mounted. Fig. a'is a section on the line A 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a View of the devices for spacing the runs of the belts or aprons, and Fig. 6 is a detailview of a shaftcoupling employed.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, which shows my invention adapted to an illusion in connectionwith the reproduction of a chariotrace, the letters a represent the usual traveling carriers on which the chariots and horses are placed, such carriers moving beneath the horses and chariots, so that the horses may run on the carriers without advancing with respect to the stage. The letters-b represent vertical aprons or canopies which are arranged to'travel at the back of the scene to represent the background of the scene produced. (See my copendingapplic'ation, Serial No. 3,454, filed January 31, 1900.)

Extending longitudinally between the carriers a. and in front of theforemost carrier are narrow endless belts c, which are disposed vertically and have their lower edges in close proximity to the floor of the stage. These belts gradually increase in height as they approach the rear of the stage, as indicated in Fig. 2, so that the audience may see each belt. The belts care driven with their front orvisible runs in the same direction and with a speed gradually decreasing toward the rear of the stage. As the horses and chariots on the carriers go through the movements of running between the belts C,'Wl1IlGh represent the ground on which the horses move, it will cause the ground to appear to the audience the same as the earth appears to a person in a carriage which is moving rapidly over the earth. By these devices the illusion of the racing-ehari0ts is complete in every respect. At the respective ends of the stage the belts are passed around pulleys 7 and 8. These pulleys are each mounted in housings composed of a top plate 9, rigidly fastened to a base-plate 10 by stay-bolts 11, passed through thimloles 12. A diagonal stay-bolt 14 is also extended between the plates 9 and 10 to resist the sidewise strain on the housings due to the pulling of the belt, as will be understood. In each housing are arranged two idler-pulleys 15, placed side by side in close proximity, so as to cause the runs of the belt 0 to be pressed together, thus preventing the audience from seeing but one run of each beltthat is to say, the front run. The journals of the pulleys S are mounted in their corresponding casings by bearings .of any suitable sort. The pulleys 7 are driven to drive the belts c, and the journals of these pulleys, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, are extended down through the bottom plates 10 of the housings in which the pulleys 7 are carried and into a box 16, fastened in the floor 17 of the stage. Screwed on the journals of the pulleys 7 are coupling-sleeves 18, which are thus rendered fast on the journals. These sleeves are formed with bayonet slots 19 therein, and the bayonet-slots 19 receive pins 20, carried on vertical shafts 21, mounted below the stage and sustained in suitable stepbearings 22. (SeeFig. 4:.) By these devices the pulleys 7 are removably coupled with the shafts 21. The shafts 21 carry band-pulleys 23, and around these pulleys 23 driving-belts 24 respectively pass. (See Fig. 1.) These driving-belts 2a are also passed around pulleys 25 on a shaft 26, mounted horizontally below the stage, and driven bya belt 27 from a suitable motor 28.

The pulleys 23 gradually increase in diameter as they approach the rear of the stage, and consequently the belts are driven with speeds which decrease toward the rear of the stage. The purpose of this is to give a perspective to the illusion, since the chariots at the rear of the stage are farther from the audience than those at the front, and consequently the rear chariots appear to move more slowly than the front chariots. The housings carrying the pulleys 7 and 8 are fastened to the floor 17 of the stage by pins 29, engaged with the bottom plates 10 of the housings, as shown.

For holding the runs ofthe belts c in the proper relative position and preventing them from contacting with each other, thus producing a whistling noise, Iprovide the arrangement shown in Fig. 5, which comprises a standard 30, placed rigidly between the runs of each belt 0 and carrying flanged sheaves 31, arranged two at each side and one above the other, so that the edges of the runs of the belts are engaged with the respective sheaves and the belts held properly spaced apart.

It is clear that this apparatus may be adapted to scenes of various sorts to represent one object of any kind moving relatively to another.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a stage-racingscene appliance, the combination with racing-machines on the floor of the stage, such racing-machines comprising endless belts or carriers and with a vertical traveling scenic canopy at the rear of the stage, of a number of vertical and relatively-narrow belts extending transversely of the stage, over the floor thereof and situated between the respective racing-machines, such belts representing the ground of the scene produced, and means for driving the belts.

2. In a stage-racing-scene appliance, the combination with a number of racing-machines placed on the floor of the stage and comprising endless belts or carriers, of a se ries of vertically-disposed, relatively-narrow belts placed between'the respective racingmachines and extended transversely of the stage, such belts representing the ground of the scene produced, and means for driving said belts. v

3. In a stage-scene appliance, the combination with the stage on which the scene is produced, of a number of relatively-narrow belts placed ed gewise on the stage and having gradproduced, and gearing for continuously driving said belts at different speed, whereby to maintain the proper perspective effect as described.

l. In a stage appliance, the combination of a housing adapted to be placed on the stage, a pulley mounted therein, a box placed in the floor of the stage below the housing, a coupling-sleeve fastened to the axis of the pulley and mounted to turn in the box, and ashaft below the floor of the stage and projected into the box and engaged with the coupling-sleeve, to impart movement to the pulley.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CLAUDE L. HAGEN.

Witnesses:

I. B. OWENS, JNo. M. BITTER. 

